France’s Answer to the Hamptons

I hope all of you had as enjoyable a Thanksgiving weekend as I did — spending it with Americans in the Luberon, Provence, traipsing around the hilltowns, then driving to Nice and visiting Saint-Paul de Vence.

There is much to love about the Luberon — just one small part of a  much larger Provence, but one with tremendous character and diversity. If your heart races when you see stone villages overlooking magnificent vistas below, then this is a spot on the planet you will want to consider, for a weekend, a summer or a lifetime.

There are many from which you can hang your hat, for not a lot of money, all things considered. My favorite towns are Ansouis, Lourmarin, Bonnieux, La Coste, Gordes, Roussillon, Ménerbes and Oppède le Vieux, to name just a few. Provence Hideaway calls it “France’s answer to the Hamptons.” They are right: “A magnet for the café society and political and art-world ‘scenesters’ who like to throw their money and celebrity around, but it is also the Provence of shrill cicadas, pulsing heat, friendly country folks and the Garrigue crunching underfoot.”

Ignore the ‘celebs’ and get the know the real folk who inhabit these villages — they are the people of which they are made, not too unlike the characters of Ménerbes in Peter Mayle’s 1989 book “A Year in Provence.”

I visited an apartment in Mayle’s Ménerbes on behalf of a client owned by a local who works for one of the four real estate agencies located on the same corner just as you enter the tiny town. One can easily see that real estate is primary business in these towns, as no matter which you visit, there are almost as many agencies as there are restaurants! They have Peter Mayle to thank for all this popularity — Mayle himself has since moved to a home in Lourmarin.

The owner/agent had renovated the apartment to perfection — a two-bedroom/two-bath cozy ‘cave’ under arched stone walls with a glassed-in veranda and large patio overlooking the valley below. It sells for just a little more than 300,000€. With 89m2 on one level, this apartment is priced just a little more than 3,500€/m2 — one-third of Paris prices. Of course, the rental season is quite a bit shorter, but at the height of the season it rents for about 700€ to 750€/week and is a bargain for four guests.

Barb Westfield’s village house in Ansouis that sleeps up to 10 in five bedrooms and five bathrooms rents for more than $3,000 in high season and if you click on the calendar on her VRBO.com Web page, you’ll see it books well, even in low season. Plus, there is the sheer pleasure of ownership of the house, as we enjoyed it for our Thanksgiving meal and visit to the region. Barb has become a real resident of the village and even though her time there is limited, it makes for very special and memorable occasions.

During the course of the weekend, we took the number 400 bus from Nice to Saint-Paul de Vence, which took an hour by public transportation, but is only 12 miles from the center of Nice. This hilltop stone village of art galleries and chic boutiques has been the home of such celebrities as Aimé and Marguerite Maeght (La Fondation Maeght), Jacques Prévert, James Baldwin, Marc Chagall and Yves Montand and Simone Signoret. Today it is a tourist destination loaded with charm and the homes sell for a pretty penny — a two-bedroom/two-bathroom in the center of the village with a roof-top terrace sells for 855,000€, almost three times that of Ménerbes and as much as in Paris.

Is it chic? “Mais, oui!” Life in Provence and along the Riviera is as chic as it gets. And elegant, too, besides loaded with charm and panache.

Interested in learning more?

Me, too! So, you can bet we’ll be there more and opening investment opportunities for you to consider.

A bientôt,

Adrian Leeds

(in Roussillon)

Editor, French Property Insider

Email: [email protected]

 P.S. If you have not already booked your Christmas or New Years Eve holiday in Paris or Nice, be sure to do that soon! Visit our Parler Paris and Parler Nice Apartments at adrianleeds.com.